NDC awarded contracts without planning to pay – Ofori-Atta

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has accused the previous Mahama-led administration of wantonly issuing contracts without any plans to pay for them.

According to him, this has contributed to huge legacy debts which the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had to settle after taking office in January 2017.

According to Mr Ofori-Atta, the Mahama government “awarded billions of cedis worth of contracts without knowing about how to pay for them. It was a case of living for today and leaving tomorrow to take care of itself,” Mr Ofori-Atta stated.

He also accused the previous government of taking unwise economic decisions and imposition of taxes on basic goods and services which overburdened citizens.

“The previous government resorted to some draconian fiscal measures, notably the increase in the tax burden of many activities including taxes on condoms, cutlasses as well as Kayayei,” he explained.